News & Articles

We recommend that all non immigrants refrain from leisure travel outside the US for the next 90 days

For the next 90 days, nearly all travelers, except U.S. citizens, traveling on passports from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen will be temporarily suspended from entry to the United States.

Green Card (Permanent Resident Card) holders of the United States traveling on the above passports will be allowed to board U.S. bound aircraft and will be assessed for security at arrival ports of entry. They may be taken to Secondary Inspection and this might take time, upon arrival

DHS and the Department of State have the authority, on a case-by-case basis, to issue visas or allow the entry of nationals of these countries into the United States when it serves the national interest. These seven countries were designated by Congress as posing a significant enough security risk to warrant additional scrutiny in the visa waiver context.

The Refugee Admissions Program will be temporarily suspended for the next 120 days while the “Government” review screening procedures to ensure refugees admitted in the future do not pose a security risk to citizens of the United States.

The Executive Order does not prohibit entry of, or visa issuance to, travelers with diplomatic visas, North Atlantic Treaty Organization visas, C-2 visas for travel to the United Nations, and G-1, G-2, G-3, and G-4 visas. All other visa applicants are advised not to make applications to US Consulates or attend visa interviews abroad, because the chances of getting a visa will be slim

Upon resumption of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, refugee admissions to the United States will not exceed 50,000 for fiscal year 2017.

The Secretary of Homeland Security will expedite the completion and implementation of a biometric entry-exit tracking system of all travelers into the United States.

If you meet the requirement to become a Citizen, do so as soon as possible.

Immigration law is a field where hardly anything new ever happens. Yet during the last days the Obama Presidency, there was a case that clarified National Interest Waivers (NIWs) Just like bad facts make bad law, good facts make good law. Dr. Dhanasar had 2 Master’s degree and a PhD. He was a Scientist in the field of Rocket Propulsion. Dhanasar replaced the old NYSDOT test.

Under the old NYSDOT test, the research had to have intrinsic merit—-This excluded pure and theoretical sciences. In many cases of pure Math, there are no direct impact. For instance, Einstein’s theory of relativity in itself is just purely a theory, and does not have any immediate consequences. Yet, there are so many uses which is based off of this theory. We could not file NIW under NYSDOT, but can do so under Dhanasar

Local in scope. The other weird thing about NYSDOT was that the impact had to be national and not local. This presented a huge problem for those of us who worked with oil industry geologists. They did research on say, North Texas oil basin. That would lead to discovery of oil in Texas. But although the research did not have direct national consequences, discovery of significant oil reserves would reduce the US dependency of foreign oil, and lead to national economic benefit
Maybe if Mr. Trump restricts Immigration, the courts will step up and make things easier.

On this last day of Obama’s presidency, I want to, no need to, look at all the Immigration actions he took, including ones that were the right thing to do, yet made him unpopular with his party.DEPORTATION:
He has been called by Democrats as the “Deporter in Chief”. Yes, he deported more people than anyone else. But let’s be clear, we ONLY deport criminals. These are people who have come in illegally, or are not yet citizens of the US, and they have committed a felony. If these people get a lawyer, the process stretches out indefinitely. Do we, as a society need more felons, or drug users? I applaud Pres. Obama on standing up to his party.DACA:
The legislature would not cooperate with President Obama and openly said that they wanted him to fail. Yet, despite that, he started the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals through executive action. This makes sense, because these people were educated by us, the US Taxpayers. They had to have at least a high school diploma and have no criminal records. If we don’t deport them, (we simply don’t have the resources to), you might as well let them earn and pay taxes. They get Driver’s license and car insurance. I do hope this program continues with the next President, because if this is scrapped, we will all lose.ENDING CUBANS WET FOOT DRY FOOT POLICY
Again, breaking with the Democratic Party ideal, the ending of the absurd policy of Cubans getting Immigration as soon as they land in American soil. Unlike the 70s, when actual Cuban refugees came through, in the 80s, Castro opened Mariel Island, from where people could come by boat to Miami. Castro also opened up the jails and mental asylums. So people coming into Florida were either hard core criminal or criminally insane. Others came in from different countries and since they were born in Cuba, they were given residencies, but did not suffer any hardship from the Castro regime.BUSINESS IMMIGRATION
The Democratic Party does not favor Business Immigration. Nancy Pelosi once said that businesses should pay the filing fees of the illegal Immigrants. But Pres Obama was hard where he needed to be, and soft in other places. In 2010, under his administration, the Citizenship and Immigration Service introduced the Control memo, which along with the Semieo case has been helpful to cut down on H-1B fraud. On the flip side, Obama with executive order has given H-1B’s spouses work permit, if the H-1B had an approved I-140. That helped save a lot of marriages. His executive order also clarified and simplified L-1 filings.

Thus the 43rd and 44th President of USA did what was fair and just despite opposition from both parties. Pres. Obama, you are my President, you always shall be.

Canadians historically have crossed the border and have not been issued an I-94, nor have their passport been stamped. Snowbirds came to Florida or Arizona, and stay the entire winter, which might stretch more than 6 months. The Customs and Border Patrol (hereinafter CBP) has recently, without any warning whatsoever, started issuing I-94. Since the I-94 is issued electronically, the Canadian nationals may not even know about it and thereby have illegal stay.

Moreover under 8 CFR §214.2(b)(2), Canadian visitor’s with a B visa has to be given a minimum of 6 months. I-94s might be given for shorter duration.

This procedure, done very quietly by CBP, might put a lot of Canadians in illegal status. Then depending on the length of their illegal stay, they may be barred from entering the United States for 3 to 10 years. This bar means no cross border shopping or even visiting your winter home down south.

Please go here to check your I-94 and get the date by which time you will need to leave USA.

The USCIS generally gives processing times in Month. For instance, the Nebraska Service Center is processing H-1Bs that were filed in July 2016. However, they have said that from July 4th, will give a specific date. For instance, Nebraska Service Center is processing H-1Bs filed on July 02, 2016. If the processing time exceeds by 1 month, then you can follow up with CIS> Therefore if the date on your receipt notice is July 01, 2016, and you have not heard from the USCIS by Feb 04, 2017. The processing times are available here.